Social History through 'The Beezer 3' : The Mangle

The mangle was mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and powered by a hand crank or electrically. It was usually used to wring water from wet laundry.



Throughout the first two decades of the Beezer (the 50’s and 60’s) this was a common place household item and as such the source of numerous comic strip gags.

Here we see Boss of the Badd Lads (Beezer March 1969) instructing a pupil on how to forge notes with the help of ink and an old mangle.

Gradually, the electric washing machine rendered this use of a mangle obsolete, and with it the need to wring clothes mechanically, which no doubt was a relief to Baby Crockett's Mum as she no longer had to worry about him getting caught up in it (from the Beezer Book 1970).

Social History through 'The Beezer' No 2 : Tripe

Our Man from 'The Numskulls' serves himself 'Tripe and Onions' from a canteen in 1968.

Could you get Tripe and Onions from any canteen in Britain these days? I very much doubt it. Definitely food from the past and a dish I would never want to see served before me.I can't remember ever having eaten this stuff though I remember my Mother saying that she gave it to us on at least a couple of occasions.

'What is tripe?' I hear many of you younger readers ask. It's truly revolting stuff: the rubbery lining of the stomach of cattle or other ruminants, white and gooey, the stuff of nightmares.

The Numskulls would have had one hell of a job shovelling this fodder down Our Man's hatch.